Y y — i grega
«i grega» is a consonant of Catalan, the “The Catalan Latin alphabet” script, read as “y or ee (loanwords only)”. Native words almost never use it: yoga, yate are Greek and English borrowings. For example, in the word “yoga” — yoga. The Catalan alphabet has 35 letters in total. The y-glide job belongs to i: raïm means "grapes". It appears, for example, in the word “més o menys” — so-so.
In short
| Character | Y y |
| Name | i grega |
| Sound | y or ee (loanwords only) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 31st of 35: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are x and z, appears in 79 words of this site.
How it sounds
Native words almost never use it: yoga, yate are Greek and English borrowings
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- yogayoga
The character in the “the letters that mislead” group
Here Catalan parts ways both with Spanish and with what the eye expects: j is a zh, s between vowels is a z, a final r goes silent.
- H hsilenthac
- J jzhjota
- G gg before a, o, u; zh before e and ige
- V vv (sounds almost like b)uve baixa
- B bb; sounds like p at the end of a wordbe alta
- C ck; s before e and ice
- Q qk (always with a silent u)cu
- S ss; z between vowelsesse
- Ss sss (always voiceless)essa doble
- R rr; usually silent at the end of a worderre
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «i grega» it is “y or ee (loanwords only)”, as in the word “yoga”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 35 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Catalan character y read?
As “y or ee (loanwords only)” — it is a consonant of the “The Catalan Latin alphabet” script. Native words almost never use it: yoga, yate are Greek and English borrowings. For example, in the word “yoga” — yoga.
What is the letter y called?
I grega. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Catalan script: it is called “i grega” and reads as “y or ee (loanwords only)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can y be confused with?
The y-glide job belongs to i: raïm means "grapes". Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.